BETHANY, Okla. - Monday opened the season's final week for the Mid-America Christian University softball team, as the Evangels headed across town to take on the Southwestern Christian University Eagles. MACU entered the day's play riding an 8-game winning streak against the Eagles, and thanks to two superb pitching performances, the Evangels ran that string to 10 in a row.
MACU (26-14, 19-12 SAC) moved to a season-high 12 games over the .500 mark with a pair of wins, and junior hurler McKenzie Smith flirted with a perfect game and a no-hitter in game two. The Evangels beat SCU (13-27, 7-21 SAC) 5-1 in game one, and 9-0 in six innings in game two.
Jessica Holt singled to lead off the game, stole second base, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Amber O'Bryant with one away. Holt scored on a ground out from Alanna Leisy to give MACU a 1-0 lead, but the Evangels were unable to get anything further in the inning.-?
SCU tied the game in the bottom of the second, and in the third, MACU jumped right back in front. Brook Hendrickson led off the inning with a walk, she stole second, and after moving to third on a groundout, she scored on a base hit from Leisy to put MACU up 2-1.
Holt singled and stole a base again in the top of the fifth, and O'Bryant doubled her home to add to the Evangels' lead. Leisy followed with a fly out to right, and O'Bryant was able to tag and advance to third on the play, then she scored as the throw in from right field went awry for an error. Alexis Franks added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning that scored Hannah Salmon to provide the final margin of 5-1.
That was plenty of support for Regan Martin. Martin (13-4) scattered five hits and one walk in the complete game win, and she allowed one earned run and fanned nine. Keirsten McCraw (5-10) took the loss for the Eagles, allowing five runs - three earned - on six hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.
Holt and O'Bryant each had two hits, Holt scored two runs, O'Bryant doubled and drove in a run, and Leisy had two RBIs.
MACU jumped out early again in game two, when Salmon drove in O'Bryant to put MACU on top 1-0. Salmon hit a one out double in the top of the third, and Ribbin Dorado had an infield single in the inning as well, but the story of the third was the wildness of SCU pitching. MACU drew five walks, one batter was hit by a pitch, and the Eagles threw two wild pitches in the inning to plate five MACU runs to open a 6-0 lead. Salmon drove in a run in the sixth, and Caitlin Butler tripled home a pair to push MACU's lead to 9-0.
Smith was the story of the game, though. The junior from Oklahoma City retired the first 12 batters she faced in a row, and after issuing a walk in the fifth, she escaped the jam without allowing the run to score, thanks in part to her getting an assist on a fielder's choice play at the plate for the second out of the inning. She took the no-hitter into the sixth, and after she retired the first two batters, she yielded a single to break up the bid with one out to go, but she was able to close out the inning and preserve the 9-0 shutout win.
Smith (9-4) allowed a double after the single in the sixth, and she gave up only one walk while she struck out three. Kaitlyn Harris (2-4) took the loss, giving up four earned runs on three hits and five walks in two and one-third innings.
Salmon was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Butler was 1-for-3 with a triple and two knocked in. O'Bryant, Shayla Morris, and Franks each scored twice in the game.
MACU will wrap up their 2019 home schedule on Friday afternoon when they host the NAIA #2 Oklahoma City Stars (44-6, 26-4 SAC). The double-header is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
